Sellers Takes Sensational Double Victory for Team USA

Jan 13, 2002
Timaru, New Zealand — Wet weather or dry, Team USA Scholarship winner Bryan Sellers was the class of the field in today’s pair of Talley’s New Zealand Formula Ford Championship races at Timaru International Motor Raceway.
Sellers, 19, from Centerville, Ohio, took the lead from pole-sitting teammate A.J. Allmendinger at the start and led throughout the opening 10-lap race in his Canterbury Racing School/Crawford Services-prepared Van Diemen RF93. Sellers made light of treacherous wet conditions as he edged clear of championship leader Fabian Coulthard and then overcame a few scares with some lapped traffic to take the checkered flag almost four seconds to the good. Teenaged New Zealander Daniel Gaunt finished third ahead of teammates Nelson Hartley and veteran Kenny Smith.

“I wasn’t driving that hard,” claimed Sellers. “I was really driving within my limits. Before [making some overnight changes to the setup of his car], we really had to struggle to get the lap times, but the changes made the car much easier to drive — much more forgiving.”

Allmendinger , meanwhile, had a tough time. The 20-year-old from Hollister, Calif., was swallowed up by the pack when he encountered massive wheelspin at the start, then fell almost to the back of the 21-car field following an incident farther on around the opening lap. He then mounted a magnificent charge through to sixth place before tangling with the lapped car of 13-year-old (yes, 13) Mathew Radisich.

Persistent rain that had plagued much of New Zealand all weekend finally cleared at mid-afternoon, so that the final race — for the coveted Timaru Herald Challenge Cup trophy, first presented in 1967 — was held on a dry track. In fact, that was bad news for Sellers, who started from pole by virtue of his earlier win — but found himself on the damper side of the grid for the standing start. Paradoxically, that might have worked in his favor.

“The track was totally different in the dry compared to when it was wet,” declared Sellers, who was beaten into the first corner by Coulthard. “To be honest, we didn’t really anticipate the track being so dry. The first lap it was hard to know where to brake or anything, but fortunately I had Fabian in front of me, so I figured if he went off I’d better get on the brakes.”

For the first few laps, Sellers raced along in the wake of Coulthard, whose record-equaling string of seven consecutive wins had been broken by Sellers earlier in the day. But one mistake was enough to make the difference. When Coulthard bobbled under acceleration onto the back straightaway on lap four, Sellers pounced, finally completing the pass at the next left-hand corner.

Once into the lead, Sellers never was able to pull away. Coulthard remained in his wheel tracks, with Hartley, Smith, Brady Kennett and Gaunt also in hot pursuit in an absorbing contest which kept the large crowd thoroughly entertained. Sellers, though, was equal to the task and held on to win by 0.408sec.

Afterward Sellers was thrilled to have added his name to a trophy previously won by many top New Zealand racers, including Graham McRae, Dave McMillan, Paul Radisich and Craig Baird as well as American Dean Hall, Canadian CART star Paul Tracy and Formula 1 hot-shoe Jos Verstappen.

“Honestly, other than the Team USA Scholarship, this is the only other award I’ve ever won,” said Sellers. “And to have so many esteemed names on there, it’s hard to believe that my name’s going to be on that trophy when they give it out next.”

While all eyes were on Sellers, Allmendinger drove another storming race from 20th on the grid to finish a strong seventh after his team had worked wonders to repair a damaged front corner following his incident earlier in the afternoon.